PnF: Mind Trapped
by Sols06
Summary: Takes Place As Teenagers - After a mysterious sickness hospitalizes him, Ferb finds himself unable to wake up from a strange dream. Now, he must face this new and lonely Danville, and escape from within his own mind, if he is to return to the waking world. T for some sad hospital scenes. No pairings, no slash.
1. Chapter 1

****PnF: Mind Trapped

*Total Number of Chapters: 14*

*One Chapter Posted Per Day*

**Chapter 1**

Phineas and Ferb entered the doorway of their house, Phineas waving his math book out in front of him. He took out the sheet of questions that their high school professor had given them and placed both on the kitchen table. Soon he had lifted his backpack off his back and placed it under the table's legs.

"How many did we have to do before Thursday?" Phineas asked, coming to sit in the chair with the scattered papers in front of him. He took out his pencil and looked over the list of math problems.

But Ferb had slowly followed behind Phineas, walking through the door with his feet dragging along the wood floor. He stopped and managed to set down his bag with some effort.

"Oh, I don't remember," Ferb answered, rubbing his forehead as he dipped his head down. Phineas noticed the way his brother shut his eyes tightly.

"Are you feeling okay?" Phineas asked in concern.

"Not particularly," Ferb answered as he fell down into the chair beside Phineas. "Just feels like I'm catching something."

Ferb had drawn up his own math homework and set his head in his hands as he looked over it. Phineas kept staring at him for a second, before returning to his own work.

"Hmm, well I remember him saying to do all the even ones," Phineas commented. "I think it would be safe to do up to problem forty then ask him tomorrow, huh?"

Ferb just nodded gradually with his hand still supporting his head, as he took out his pencil. Phineas followed and did the same, starting to look over the first question.

They were doing the first portion of their pre-calculus course. This section was on limits and curves, and Phineas soon sped through the first few problems. Mostly it was picking out pictures of graphs from groups, but when Phineas had been working for about an hour, his eyes stopped hovered over the given equation and corresponding graph.

"Hey, Ferb?" Phineas asked, poking his brother with the eraser end of his pencil. "What did you do for number twenty-six?"

"Hmm, uh?" Ferb responded, looking up as though he had just been zoned out. He still had his fingers in his hair and his pencil resting loosely in his other hand. "I'm still on number four…."

"Are you stuck on it?" Phineas questioned as he peered over to see what Ferb was doing on his paper.

"Not really," Ferb responded through a deep sigh. "I'm just having a little trouble concentrating…."

"Do you have a headache?"

Ferb placed his pencil down and leaned back in his chair, hands on his face. "…I'm just not up for math right now."

Then Ferb stood up and pushed the textbook that he and Phineas were sharing over to Phineas' side of the table. He walked behind Phineas' chair, heading for the stairs, while Phineas turned his head to follow him with his eyes.

"I think I'm going to go upstairs and take a nap," Ferb said as he placed his hand on the handrail, trudging his feet up the steps.

"Okay," Phineas spoke sadly after him. "Hope you feel better."

Ferb stopped moving upstairs for a moment, turning his head over his shoulder to look back at Phineas. "Don't you worry about me, Phin. I'll be okay."

"Alright," Phineas answered, returning to his homework. "I still hope you feel better."

Ferb eventually made his way up to his bedroom door, and pushed his palm against it weakly. He forced his feet to bring him over to his bed, where he slumped down without bothering to get changed.

The softness of his pillow felt good against his cheek, but he still could not lift the annoying fog that had begun to clog his brain, even after he had shut his eyes firmly and drew his shaky hands close.

* * *

At first, Ferb thought that he had misplaced his blanket, shivering at the cold chill that nipped at his arms. Then he remembered that he had never bothered to get under his covers in the first place.

Moving his arm all around him, Ferb sought the softness of his purple blanket. Strangely, he could not seem to find it nor, for that matter, the edge of his bed.

Then he realized that he had a strange feeling of lying upside-down. As he slowly moved his head back and forth, beginning to wake up, Ferb noticed that he was not upside-down, but was indeed sleeping on an inclined surface. Somehow he found himself laying on at least a forty-degree incline, with his feet higher than his head.

Feeling a sudden rush of vertigo, Ferb shot up and repositioned himself correctly. He sat up in the goopy mud and propped himself up on his arms.

Ferb stopped, and before he even began to process his surroundings, he grabbed up the squishy substance beneath him and looked at the two handfuls of mud in his fists.

_How did I get to be sleeping on mud…?_ Ferb thought to himself. Then, he tipped his gaze up to the dirt and grassy mounds around him. He was sitting on the side of a muddy ditch, with no sign of his bed, or anything familiar, to be found.

"H-hello?" Ferb called out, to no response. Looking further out of the ditch, Ferb could see the flat, asphalt surface of a highway.

He pushed himself out of the glop, and discovered that though he no longer had a headache, he now felt stiff and achy, as if he had not moved in a long while. As he came up to the edge of the road, he tried to brush the caked mud off of his shirt. It stayed stuck firmly on in cracked pieces, almost as if it had had a time to settle.

_How long have I been out here…?_

Ferb shook his head and looked up. The sky was dark and cloudy, threatening rain at any moment. Ferb silently hoped it would come, so he could more easily get clean. A small distance down the highway, Ferb could see the skyline of a city. He immediately recognized it, with a welcoming sigh, as his home town of Danville.

Coming out a little ways into the center of the highway, Ferb looked down the road at the direction that led away from the city. It straightened off darkly into distant wilderness. No headlights were visible in either direction, and nothing more than a quiet wind could be heard over the silent and undisturbed highway.

Ferb turned back to look at Danville. He stayed staring for a moment, before pushing up his knees in a slow effort to walk back towards town.

He was only about two miles away from the city, but it took well over a half hour before he had arrived at the beginnings of the bridge that brought the highway over Danville Harbor. His feet were starting to get tired, but he forced himself to keep walking along the pedestrian walkway that lined the edge of the bridge.

What Ferb found to be quite strange, however, was that during the entirety of his trek he did not pass a single car. He had hoped, perhaps, that one would stop and give him a ride further into town. Though the concrete road stayed eerily calm, and not even a pebble rolled against its gray surface.

As Danville came closer into view, Ferb could make out some of the details. He was passing the large pier to his right, with the local amusement park situated on top of it. But the lights were not lit, and the wide, tall Ferris wheel was not spinning with regular use.

Down to his left, on the other side below the bridge, was the unoccupied beach. The dark water washed up back and forth, giving Ferb a gentle sloshing sound as he trudged further down the road.

Coming to the end of the bridge, Ferb walked up the sidewalk steps and onto the road into Danville. First, though, he bothered to approach the small tollbooth and poke his head inside.

"Hello?" he called again. Yet, his voice still went unanswered. The little chair in the center was vacant, and the wind only played with the stack of papers sitting on the counter.

Ferb gave up on these attempts, and moved to walk towards the central city streets. The ghostly white-and-grey clouds still hovered in overcast above the city, and even the tallest towers did not breach through it. As he pushed his way through the blocks, stores were locked and lights were off. No one was traveling on their way to work or the grocer's, in fact, Ferb still had not seen a single soul since he had awoken and found himself on the side of the road. Danville was deserted.


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

"FERB!" Phineas cried into his brother's ear. "Ferb, please wake up!"

Phineas tipped his wet eyes upwards to look at the few paramedics who were sitting on the other side of the white gurney in front of him. They all jumped as the ambulance hopped over a bump in the road.

Resting his hands over Ferb's arm, Phineas gave a soft moan and pressed his head against Ferb's chest. "Is-is he gonna be okay?"

"We don't know anything, Phineas," one of the paramedics responded as he adjusted a tube on Ferb's other arm, and another clamped a plastic piece onto his finger. "Right now, we're just trying to get him to the hospital. Tell me again what happened."

"…Okay," Phineas tried to speak with a cracking voice. "He said wasn't feeling good yesterday, so at about four o'clock he went up to take a nap. When it came bedtime he was still sleeping, so I figured he wanted to sleep through the night."

Taking a breath, Phineas attempted once more to relay, but only after he had given a shudder of fright. "Wh-when I woke up for school this morning he wasn't up yet. I knew he was feeling sick so I thought I would let him get a few more minutes of rest. But… but then it started to get to be the time that we were going to be late…"

Phineas shook his head and gave an open-mouthed frown. He could still hear the wailing sirens through the roof of the ambulance as they sped down the road.

"I poked him and pushed him…. I shoved him and called his name louder and louder…. I even pulled him by the arm off of his bed and onto the floor. But whatever I did-he just wouldn't wake up…!"

Taking Ferb's unmoving hand in his own, Phineas gripped it and looked at his brother's lightly shut eyes. "So I panicked… and I called 911… Feerrrrbbb…"

"It was right of you to panic," one of the paramedics soothed as she bent down, nearing her ear to Ferb's slightly open mouth. She jumped up and grabbed a metal device attached to a tube, and drew it up near his face. "He's stopped breathing on his own. Intubating!"

"Ferb," Phineas whispered to him. "You're gonna be okay, alright? You said you would be okay."

* * *

The dark streets of Danville looked quite different without fellow pedestrians hustling their way to various appointments and jobs. It almost gave Ferb the feeling of being lost, as he wove his way between blocks, seeking the residential area where his house lay.

Eventually he did stumble upon his street, and welcomed the familiar sights and sounds as he approached the driveway of his own home. It appeared, which was both reassuring and unsettling, that his house was the only one in all the neighborhood that still had its lights on inside.

He walked up the stone steps and arrived at the front door. He cupped his hands and peered into the bright window frame, and gave a thankful smile. There, he saw Phineas sitting on the couch watching TV, and Candace a little ways away on the living room chair.

After he had pulled his keyring off of his belt, Ferb found his house key and stuck it in the door. It unlocked with ease and he stepped in, trying to shake off the dirt in the process.

"Thank goodness you guys are still here!" Ferb said with exasperation, turning to close the door behind him. "I thought something might have happened to all of Danville."

But Phineas had shot straight backwards from the couch and almost tumbled onto the floor, running to hide behind Candace's chair. Candace, too, stood up and stared with open eyes.

"MOOOM!" Phineas called out from his place peering around the chair's edge. "Some guy just walked right into our house!"

"Woah, guys, it's just me!" Ferb said, inadvertently backing up a bit towards the door, placing his hands behind him as he felt for it.

Their mom had come in from the other room. As soon as she caught sight of Ferb in the doorway, she froze and shot him a scrutinizing gaze.

"What do you want!" she exclaimed. "I have a broom in the kitchen!"

"Yeah, Mom! Hit him with the broom!" Candace pushed, still staying on the sidelines near Phineas' hiding spot. She added, "Or he'll try to steal our valuables!"

"Don't hit me with the broom, Mom!" Ferb called out, pressing his back near to the closed front door. But she had already snuck into the kitchen and drew out the makeshift weapon, holding it at the ready.

Ferb hid behind his arms. "Mom!"

She had not moved yet, when Phineas poked his head over the side of the chair. His mom had noticed this, and looked over to him. Phineas inquisitively asked while looking at Ferb, "Why do you keep calling her that?"

Peeking out from between his elbows, Ferb looked back at them. "Call her what?"

Then he let himself relax for only a moment, and replied, "You mean 'Mom'? Well… because she's my mom. Why else?"

She just kept the long black-handled broom held out in front of her as she tried to read the intruder in her house. "I would know if I had a _second_ teenage son, and you're definitely not related to us. How did you even get in here?"

Ferb kept trying to back up as fumbled around with his hand. "I have a house key!" he defended, pulling up his keyring to show them, jingling along with his own car keys, school locker key, a carabineer, and several other things attached to it.

When he was sure they had fully examined it, he cautiously lowered it back down. Then he dipped his head and respectfully mumbled, "And… I'm not related to you. I'm your step-son."

Candace gave a pointed whine. "Mom would have to be married to have a step-son! He's loony!"

Ferb looked over with both shocked and hurt eyes, not at Candace, but at the partial figure of Phineas, who was still sheltering himself.

"Phineas…?" Ferb asked gently. "You remember me, don't you, Phineas?"

Trying both to come out from his cover, and also to shrink further behind it, Phineas looked back at the strange teenager by the door. He gulped and asked, "How do you know my name…?"

"Because I'm your brother," Ferb responded right away, using only clear words. "Phin, I'm your brother."

No one spoke in response to this, and the room was left quiet for a few moments. So Ferb ventured to say, "Where is Dad? Is he here somewhere?"

Shaking his head, Phineas slunk back behind the chair, until Ferb could barely see him. "Dad died a long time ago."

Ferb realized what Phineas meant, and returned with a prompt, "No, not your Dad. My Dad."

Their mom lifted her broom higher, and Candace pointed out with speed, "If you're looking for _your_ Dad, then why don't you go to _your house?"_

"This is my house…" Ferb withdrew, tossing his gaze back and forth between his broom-wielding Mom and the squinting-eyed Candace. "I-I have a house key and you all are my family…"

"He's crazy! He's crazy!" Candace repeated. "Call the loon patrol!"

Their mom had lowered her broom only for a second, and threw a finger towards the door. "Go, and leave us alone, then I won't have to call the police."

Ferb closed his eyes and pressed the back of his arms against the door. He shook his head. "Don't call the police, Mom. Please."

But then he discovered he could no longer feel the door against his back. He could no longer hear his family's words around him. As he blinked his eyes back open, he jumped backwards when he caught sight of where he was.

He had found himself standing atop the roof of a large skyscraper in downtown Danville. The wind blew coldly against his shirt, while he cuddled himself down to where the floor met the raised wall.

His family had forgotten him. His mother saw him as a thief; his sister thought he was insane. And Phineas, his own brother, could not recognize him even in the light of their very house. Sniffling, Ferb wiped his eyes on his sleeve and looked upwards.

Grey clouds twisted above him, still continuing their threat of rain. Ferb tried to listen for nearby people, whether they would be working busily on the floor below him, or caught up in loud traffic on the streets down at ground level. But no matter how hard he tried, he soon realized that he-and his estranged family-were the only ones left in the eerie quietness of this new Danville.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

Phineas sat on the little metal chair in the bright tile-floor hallway. Danville Hospital was full of ambient sounds and interesting happenings, most of which would have Phineas curiously eavesdropping any day. But today, Phineas only stared at the floor with his mind nowhere but focused on the quiet room behind him. He had been told to wait outside until news arrived.

Then he heard rushed footsteps coming from down the hall. Phineas eagerly looked up, to see his mom coming quickly towards him. Phineas leapt up and let her hug him tightly.

"Mom…" Phineas cried. "He's going to be okay, right?"

"Of course he is, honey," she assured him. "They let me drive behind the ambulance, but I've been tied up downstairs. Have you been keeping him company?"

Phineas forced himself to shake his head. "They haven't let me in yet. They have him all hooked up to stuff in there."

Searching around her, Phineas asked, "Where's Candace and Dad?"

"They're coming straight over," she replied. "Your Dad is picking up Candace right now from her class across town."

Then Phineas lifted his head when he saw a man in a white coat making his way to approach them. He still walked like he carried bad news, but also had an oddly reassuring look on his face.

The doctor gave a sigh, and addressed Phineas' mom, speaking his news. "Your son is in a state of unconsciousness, one that he can't be woken from. He also lacks a regular sleep cycle-"

"I know stuff!" Phineas cried, already digging his face into his mom's shirt. He could hardly be heard through his muffled mouth, but spoke his own knowledge softly. "That's comatose, isn't it."

Shaking his head, the doctor replied, "I don't want you to use that word, if it scares you. We have reason to be confident that he will wake from it on his own."

Looking up at the doctor from his place under his mom's arms, Phineas asked, "…When will he wake up? I want him to wake up now."

"There's no way of telling," the doctor answered. "He could be up and talking by this afternoon…."

Then he looked around at the other rooms of the hospital. "…Or it could take days, or weeks. There's simply no way for us to know."

Letting out a wail, Phineas returned to his hugging. "Weeks! Ferb could be in a vegetative state for weeks?"

The doctor drew Phineas' gaze back up to himself, and gave him an inviting and comforting smile. Then he came over to the window, where they could see Ferb sleeping soundly in the quiet hospital bed, among the several blinking and beeping machines. Phineas curiously let go of his mom and followed him.

"A vegetative state, no," the doctor promised him, while Phineas peered beside him through the glass window. "You're right in saying that many comas are, but his is different. The electrical activity in his mind is much higher, even, than someone who is awake. That is why we can say with great certainty that it is possible he may wake up at any time."

"The electrical activity?" Phineas asked with interest and he glanced back up at the doctor. "What does that mean?"

"It means," the doctor replied with a nod to the window. "That he's sure thinking about something in there. And whatever it is, he's thinking hard about it."

* * *

Standing back up on the flat concrete roof, Ferb thought about trying to brush the dust off of himself again. However, when he looked down, he saw that his shirt was clean. Ferb just looked back up and wouldn't bother with thinking about it. This place was weird enough already.

Ferb walked over to the edge of the roof, and peered down it. He could see the shadowed roads that were darkened by the ever-gloomy sky. Though he had hoped something had changed during his short nod-off, the Danville streets still lacked the prominent plethora of traffic they normally carried.

Turning back around, Ferb figured he would leave the cold surface of this roof. He found a plain grey door in the stone wall and pushed forcefully, yet unenthusiastically through it, heading down the dirty white steps to the next floor.

He reached the elevator shaft, moved inside, and lightly pressed the button for the ground floor. The elevator descended slowly downwards, making no stops in between. Soon the doors rolled open and Ferb was given a look at the building's lobby.

All the lights were off, but that was no surprise. Meandering his way away from the elevator, Ferb approached the empty front desk. No employees sat behind, and no customers waited in line.

Ferb just sighed and rubbed his head, starting to look around for the exit. Several unused brown desks were organized in cubicles in the lobby; each one was situated with a few comfortable chairs on its front side. The wooden surfaces had many stands with colorful brochures and pens lined up. But as Ferb scanned around, a bright poster in the corner of the room caught his eye. It was a photograph of a commercial plane in mid-flight over a group of palm trees, with the caption _Travel to Scenic California! _running along the bottom.

Taking his best guess, Ferb concluded that this must be a travel agency of some kind. But as he continued his survey, he finally found what he was searching for: a set of glass doors that were letting in a slight bright light from the street outside.

He approached them, and haphazardly pushed his way out. Then he stopped on the sidewalk and looked upwards at the other bland, colorless buildings before him. He remembered the loneliness of his situation, the hostility of his family, and the horrible feeling struck him that he had nowhere to go.

Ferb just stuck his feet onto the sidewalk and started walking. He had no reason to wander around Danville, but he had nothing else to do. He did this for a few hours: just walking up and down the streets with the unexpected hope he might spot someone else somewhere in town. He did not.

Eventually Ferb could resist it no longer. His feet had drawn him back to Maple Drive. Now he merely stood in the street and watched his house: the single bright one on the block.

He tried to imagine what his mom might be doing in there, and what Candace might be up to. But he had trouble bringing happy thoughts, as he kept dwelling on their reactions when he had walked into their house. He couldn't do that to them again.

Ferb only turned his back to the bright home, and sat down on the stone steps at the base of the driveway. He put his elbows on his knees and stuck his head in his hands. He tried to suppress his whimpered moan.

A light clicking sound broke the silence behind him. Ferb lifted his forehead off his palms and tipped his eyes over his shoulder. He saw the curious face of Phineas peeking his head cautiously out of the doorway.

Ferb turned back around to face forward to the grey street. He could think of nothing to do but give a sigh. "Hi, Phin."

Phineas looked quite surprised that he was being addressed. He came a little further out the door, and closed it behind him. Then he eased ahead, and stopped out in the middle of the driveway.

Cocking his head a little, Phineas wanted to get a glimpse of the strange teenager's face, but could not manage it from the way he was sitting on the stone sidewalk. Instead, Phineas spoke up, "I was sitting in the living room and just spotted somebody sitting out here."

Not replying, Ferb kept sitting and facing forward, away from Phineas. Phineas walked up a bit closer, until he was almost next to him. He bent over sideways, is if he was trying to both get a glance at his front, and remain standing safely behind him.

"Why'd you come back?" he asked with interest.

"I don't know," Ferb answered honestly. He looked up at the dark outline of the downtown skyscrapers. "It's just so lonely out there."

This time, Phineas was able to see his face. The longing look he gave made Phineas follow the gaze out to the tall city silhouette. He presented the question, "Why do you call me that?"

"Why do I call you Phin?" Ferb clarified. Phineas nodded in prompt. "Your name's Phineas isn't it?"

"Well, yeah," Phineas responded. "But most of the time complete strangers call me Phineas. Cause it's my name."

"Is that really all I am to you?" Ferb never looked back up. "...A complete stranger..."

"Pretty much, yeah," Phineas answered with the cheer of conversation. "Considering I just met you yesterday. That's kinda the definition of a stranger, right?"

"Guess so," Ferb admitted. Finally, he looked up and to the right, and saw Phineas' happy smile. He accidentally found himself mirroring it as he said, "I suppose I don't really have a reason for calling you Phin. Sometimes I just do that."

Ferb stopped his talking and broke his stare away, but Phineas made no motion of intending to leave any time soon. Ferb just figured he would keep up the conversation.

"Where are all the people, anyway?" Ferb offered his pondering. Phineas replied with just a shrug. Ferb continued, "Aren't they normally here? Isn't it strange that they are all gone?"

But Phineas was only half paying attention to Ferb's questions, and mostly had his focus on Ferb himself. Phineas then came around to Ferb's other side and plopped himself down on the stone step close beside him.

"I like you," Phineas announced. "You ask funny questions. What's your name?"

Ferb had turned a little to look at him. He mustered up another smile. "My name's Ferb."

"Ferb?" Phineas said with a tilt of his head. "That's a silly name. But I like it, too."

"I'm glad," Ferb returned. Then there was a loud cracking sound from the sky, which cause Ferb to look upwards. The grey clouds had flashed with the blue forks of lightning.

"Why is it so cloudy here all the time?" Ferb asked, still gazing at the wide-open sky.

Phineas kept looking up, too. His nose was pointing straight upwards, as he shrugged haphazardly. "I dunno. Maybe you're sad."

"Huh?" Ferb replied with confusion, changing his interest from the sky above, to Phineas beside him. He looked at him as Phineas continued his innocent sky gazing. Ferb requested, "How do my emotions have anything to do with the weather?"

"Hmm?" Phineas answered, finally looking back down to Ferb, who was cueing him with interest. Phineas just smiled and gave another shrug, before returning to look at the sky.

"Well," Ferb kept talking, giving up. "Is it normally cloudy? Was the weather bad yesterday, or the day before?"

"I dunno," Phineas repeated. Ferb looked on with skepticism.

"Don't you remember what the weather was like two days ago?"

Phineas shrugged another time. He explained, "I dunno what happened yesterday and I dunno what'll happen today. I'm just... here."

"...And where exactly is here?" Ferb pushed.

"Here is here, of course," Phineas answered brightly. "Where else would here be?"

"Oh I don't know," sighed Ferb. "Maybe I ask funny questions because I just want a few answers."

The sky flashed again. Phineas looked up at it, and jumped up onto his feet.

"If it rains out here, we'll get all wet!" He turned around and leapt his way over to the front door. Then he halted halfway and turned back around.

"Hey!" he exclaimed with a spin of his feet. He looked back to Ferb still sitting on the cold stone steps. "If I let you back into the house will you steal our TV?"

Ferb looked over his shoulder and offered an amused chuckle. "Hah, of course not, Phin. I wouldn't steal anything."

"Good," Phineas finished, coming up to the front door again. Ferb pushed himself off of the concrete steps and followed him.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

Phineas had already swung open the door of the house and was starting to take his shoes off, when Ferb came in behind him. Immediately Candace spotted the intruder, and came running up to both of them. She pointed a finger at the red-haired face of her brother.

"Phineas!" she scolded. "You brought him back in here?"

"Well, yeah, I-" Phineas started, but Candace had thrown her finger down and turned to face the kitchen.

"MOM!" she hollered. "Phineas let that burglar kid back into our house!"

"He's not a _burglar," _Phineas started to defend, coming to stand in front of him. By now, their mom had come into the front hallway from her work in the kitchen.

Phineas did not make notice of the new listener. He kept talking. "His name is Ferb and he told me he wouldn't steal anything."

"Right," Candace said sarcastically. "And this is coming from the kid who you just met _yesterday,_ WHILE he was in the process of breaking in."

"Hey! He wasn't breaking into anything," Phineas pointed out. "He had a key."

"Yeah. That he probably STOLE out of our garage or something-!"

"Candace and Phineas!" their mom interrupted with the tone of punishment. "Stop your fighting."

Phineas looked down guiltily, and peered back up at his mom. "Sorry, Mom," he said honestly. Then she gave him a comforting look, and prompted him with a smile.

"Phineas, honey. I know you always have a very good reason for doing things," she said softly. She looked over to Ferb, who also had his head downward in guilt to match Phineas'. Then she asked Phineas quietly, "It was you who let him back in?"

Straightening up, Phineas tried his best to be confident. He was now positioned so that he was standing no longer in front of Ferb, but to his side.

"Mmhmm," Phineas confirmed with an exaggerated nod. "I was talking with him outside for a bit. He's my friend now."

Candace just slapped herself on the forehead in disbelief. "Phineas, I saw you out there. You were talking for FIVE MINUTES."

"So!" Phineas retorted, putting his hand on Ferb's shoulder. "That doesn't mean we can't become friends."

He looked over to his mom with begging, puppy-dog eyes. "Can't he stay, Mom? He doesn't have anywhere else to go."

Their mom started to open her mouth, but Candace still wasn't through her protesting. "Phineas! We can't just go taking in every random homeless kid we find," she pointed out loudly.

"But he's different…" Phineas whispered. Looking upwards at Ferb, Phineas gave a slow glance. He watched as Ferb smiled back. Phineas then responded to Candace. "And I like him."

With a shot back towards his mom, Phineas continued his begging. "I want him to stay, Mom. Pleeeeaassee?"

Only after she had glared at Candace to make sure she was finished interrupting, did Phineas' mom finally concede, "Alright, Phineas, I'll trust you. If you think he's okay, he can stay."

Then she looked over at the taller teenager of the two, and Ferb shrunk down as if he was uncomfortable being analyzed. She turned her lip as she tried to read him.

"But just to be safe, he's sleeping in the bathroom. I don't want him wandering around the house at night."

"Aw, but there's plenty of space in my room," Phineas pointed out.

"Phineas…" came Candace's whine. After she had heard her mom's decision she seemed to have accepted the house's new addition, at least for now. However, she still made it a point to pester her brother.

"He's not some lizard you found out in the grass. You can't just put him in a jar and leave him on your desk."

"I don't mind sleeping in the bathroom," Ferb spoke up. Everyone immediately stopped their conversation and all eyes focused on him. They seemed to have forgotten that Ferb indeed had a voice of his own.

Ferb refrained from speaking for the moment as he recoiled in awkward surprise. "I-I just mean I don't want to be a bother to anybody."

"Well, you can at least have my extra sheets," Phineas promised, grabbing Ferb by the arm to show him up the stairs, planning to give him a whole tour of the entire house.

* * *

"Where is Phineas?" Candace asked as she set her plastic tray on the table beside her parents. Today, they had decided to have lunch in the hospital cafeteria.

Her mom just slid over a bit to let Candace sit down, and gestured her eyes up to the ceiling. Candace glanced up towards the second floor, and gave a reluctant and hurt sigh.

"I shouldn't have asked," she said as she re-gathered up the black plastic tray, piling a few items from the buffet onto it. "I'll take something up to him."

"Let's all go," her father suggested as he stood up, as well. "There's no sense in eating down here without him."

When his mom poked her head in the door, Phineas didn't look up from his spot leaning on the side of the white hospital bed. He was sitting in a folding chair with his chin resting on his hands, which were propped on the thin bed sheet tucked near Ferb's side.

Phineas had moved to the far side of the bed, so that he would not bother Ferb's right arm, attached to several wires and IV tubes. He rested his cheek on the side of his brother's leg as he peered tiredly up at him. He could barely see him behind the thick clear tube that was connected to a plastic piece in his mouth. Phineas only watched as Ferb's lids stayed still, not flickering with the regular signs of a normal sleep.

"Hi, Phineas?" he heard his Mom's voice softly call. The three other visitors came over to sit in other chairs situated throughout the room. "…We brought you something to eat."

Taking only a little glance at the food, Phineas huffed with disinterest. "I bet Ferb is hungry."

His mom looked at the calmly sleeping Ferb in the bed. They could all hear the even, melodic beeps coming from the whole room. She consoled, "He's doing fine, Phineas. The doctors are taking good care of him."

When all Phineas responded with was a distant blow of air, she slid her chair closer. "How about going to school tomorrow?"

Phineas tipped his eyes at her, and looked with sadness. "Mmmm…" he answered in debated thought.

"We let you take the first few days off," his mom elaborated gently. "But it's been a week now, sweetie. You don't want to get behind in your work, do you?"

"No…" Phineas replied. But he still refused to sit upright in his chair.

His mom just stroked his back soothingly. "Ferb will be okay without you here for a few hours. And you can come right back over after school, okay?"

"But-but…" Phineas denied. "The doctors say he'll wake up any moment. What if, when he wakes up, nobody is here with him?"

Phineas stuck his chin back onto Ferb's knee. "I want the first thing he sees when he opens his eyes to be something familiar. …I don't want him to be scared."

"Ferb won't be scared," his dad put out. "And if you're not here when he wakes up, then we'll bring you straight over. We'll even take you out of school early. How does that sound?"

"Al-alright," Phineas mumbled. He reached over and took Ferb's hand in his own. "But I sure hope he wakes up soon."


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Phineas knocked lightly on the bathroom door. "Woooohoooo," he whispered, unlatching the lock and peeking his head in. There, he saw Ferb bundled up in the spare blankets on the shiny floor tile. He was looking at him sleepily and upside-down, as his hair lay loosely on the floor.

"Hiya," Ferb greeted as he unraveled himself out of the covers and attempted to turn himself over.

"Mmm, I smell breakfast," Phineas tempted him. "Mom made some down there for you, too."

"She made breakfast for me?" Ferb repeated, finally getting to his feet.

"Well of course, she doesn't want you to be hungry," came Phineas' answer. After he had waited for Ferb to come out of the door, Phineas started to walk alongside him down the stairs.

Ferb was looking ahead of his path, distantly. "Have you ever had that feeling before?" he asked Phineas in passing.

"Which?" said Phineas, inquisitively.

Ferb scratched the back of his head. "I feel like I'm forgetting something really important."

But Ferb stopped moving down the steps and stood firmly on a flat, wooden one in the center. "Wait, no..." he voiced further, thorough in thought. "More like I had an important appointment to go to, and I forgot about it and missed it. And I should be there now."

"Like a meeting?" Phineas replied with a tilt of his head. He was a few steps lower, looking back up at Ferb.

"No, nothing specific," Ferb said, shaking his head to clear it. "It just feels like this isn't where I'm supposed to be."

Continuing their walk down the steps, Phineas again took up his spot beside Ferb as he passed.

"You can leave, if you want," Phineas offered, in slight reluctance. "Nobody's forcing you to stay here."

"I know," Ferb responded, reaching the floor level. "But you said it before, where else would I go?"

"Well," Phineas mentioned, coming out to walk in front of him. "Since you've been here for a week already, Mom's letting you sleep in my room tonight!"

Taking a plate of scrambled eggs off the central countertop, Ferb answered, "Your mom is really nice."

Then Ferb took a place at the kitchen table, where Phineas had already settled his plate down. Ferb reached into his pocket and drew out his cell phone, beginning to fiddle with it. "But I can't help but think that I need to be _doing_ something."

Phineas had stopped with a forkful of eggs halfway hanging out of his mouth, as he gaped at the device in Ferb's hand. "What is _that?"_

"It's just my phone," he told him, keeping his eyes unfruitfully on the little screen as he flipped carelessly through it. "But it hasn't had a cell signal anywhere in town, even though I can see the Danville cell tower right on the hill over there."

Ferb had pointed out the kitchen window with a toss of his finger, but Phineas paid no attention. He had slid his whole placemat over to Ferb as he looked over his shoulder. "That doesn't look ANYTHING like a cell phone."

"I put a couple modifications on it," Ferb explained.

Phineas leaned almost on top of Ferb, with widened eyes. "That thing looks awesome! Whatzit do?"

Pushing his finger over a slide, pressing another button, and typing in a passcode, Ferb showed Phineas a few of its functions. Then, Ferb gently placed it into Phineas' hands. Phineas handled it carefully as if he had just been given a precious prize, and awed at the little device supported by his fingertips.

"Actually," Ferb started cautiously, yet invitingly. "We made it together."

"Reeeaaallly?" Phineas elongated his word as he looked up at Ferb in disbelief.

"Sure we did. See, from what I remember," Ferb moved his finger back and forth between the two of them. "You and I were best friends, and brothers. We used to invent things together all the time."

Phineas stared back at him with a great grin, as his eager eyes pleaded for Ferb to continue.

"Every day of every summer, we would set off to make it the best day ever."

"No _waaaaay,"_ Phineas reacted, not bothering to close his open mouth. "Man! I WISH you were my brother. Cause that sounds like sooooo much fun."

Ferb took back his phone that Phineas had set on the table. He closed it and latched it, returning it to his pocket. Then he folded his hands in his lap and tipped his eyes timidly back up to Phineas.

"I can be again... if you'll have me," Ferb offered quietly.

Phineas tried to wrap his head around it as he looked back at Ferb, sitting in the chair. "You and me? Be brothers?"

Ferb just nodded his head.

"I dunno," Phineas said, thoughtfully and excitedly. "Candace is fun and all, but I've never had a brother before."

"We were never actually… blood related anyway." Ferb used his words to further the slow look of consideration that had begun to spread across Phineas' face. "So that wouldn't matter."

Phineas was nodding, and then moved his eyes away from his pondering stare and towards Ferb. Phineas smiled back at him and sat up. "Sure! That sounds like a blast!"

Taking up his hand with his fingers straight out, Ferb offered it sideways to him. "So what do you say? Brothers?"

Phineas took it with an ecstatic grin and shook it firmly. "Brothers."


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

"So, Phineas," Ferb asked as he placed his plate away in the sink. "I haven't seen you go to school the whole week I've been here. Is it the summer?"

Phineas left his dirty plate in the sink beside Ferb's. "Maybe," he shrugged.

"Did you have a good year last spring?" Ferb inquired with a slight hint of longing. "…What is High School like without me?"

"Dunno," was Phineas' answer as he sat on the couch.

"Well, do you still know all our friends?" Ferb pushed, giving a sad sigh. "How are you all getting along… when there's only four of you?"

Holding the television remote in his hands, Phineas only cocked his head at Ferb, not giving a reply. "You keep asking funny questions."

Ferb took his spot beside Phineas on the couch cushion as he stared towards the black screen. "Here's another funny question: How come you call these questions funny?"

"I told you," Phineas explained happily and simply. "I dunno what happened before you got here, and I dunno what will happen next week. Now is now and that's all there is here."

* * *

"You remember that, Ferb?" Phineas asked as he gripped his brother's unmoving hand in both of his, holding it tightly. "It was part of that first summer. We went around the world in one day… and we gave Candace that great birthday present? That was a really fun day…"

Giving a little laugh, Phineas ducked his nose under Ferb's arm, lifting it up. "And we wrote a bunch of songs, and had that beach in the backyard…"

Candace, who had been sitting in the shadowed corner, reading a book, lifted her eyes when she heard her little brother mumbling.

"…and of course we had the rollercoaster…"

She put her bookmark in, and stood up, leaving the book on her chair. Coming over to a seat beside Phineas, she placed a hand on his back. "Phineas… you know that he can't hear you…?"

Lifting up his slightly glossy eyes, Phineas sniffled. "No, I don't know that, Candace."

He pushed his gaze down to Ferb's hand, forcing Candace's to follow it. Phineas kept his fingers linked between Ferb's as he held his other hand gently on top. He and Candace then looked up to Ferb's closed eyes, still static and motionless, and at the corner of his mouth that held no expression.

"What if he can, and then I stop?" Phineas presented to his sister. "Then what would he think."

"I don't know," Candace said in mellow defeat. "But there's been no evidence that says people in comas can even hear us at all."

"And nothing says they can't," was Phineas' innocent and honest retort. He gave a terrible exhale. "He told me he was feeling sick, and I let him fall asleep anyway."

"Phineas," Candace said strongly. "You saved his life by panicking last Tuesday and calling the ambulance! Don't you dare start feeling guilty."

"But Candace, now it's all the way to the _next Wednesday,_ an-and he's still sleeping," Phineas said softly, as his big sister gave him a rare hug. "I have to keep talking to him. Just in case."

* * *

Ferb had his feet propped up on the coffee table, as he and Phineas casually watched the flickering television before them. Neither of them were really paying attention to it.

"This is it, huh?" Ferb asked, turning to Phineas, who looked back politely. "If you don't invent things, then what do you do all day?"

Phineas nodded back to the TV. "Nothin."

Just then, the box in front of them turned to its mirror-like black glass, showing the little distorted reflection of the bright window that was behind them. Phineas looked at it with confusion.

"TV's broke," he said, standing up with a frown.

"That's weird," Ferb thought, coming over to investigate the appliance. He asked Phineas, "Does it do that a lot?"

Phineas shook his head in response, also bending down to get a better look.

"It's still on, though," Ferb interpreted. "Because I can hear it humming."

"You can? …Strange," Phineas replied. But this comment caused Ferb to move his focus away from the device and up towards Phineas.

"Why is that strange?"

"Cause I can't hear it humming," Phineas elaborated, not moving from looking at the box.

"Really, you can't? It's pretty loud," Ferb said, finishing with the television set and standing up as Phineas shook his head beside him.

"Wait… no," Ferb stopped himself, rubbing his face. "It's not coming from the television…"

Phineas looked all around the room. "Where is it?"

Ferb lifted his hands off of his face to reveal his concern and worry-filled eyes. He was unable to close his mouth as he attempted to form his thoughts into words, but they were swirling so much that he only quivered his lip.

"I-I-I can't… c-can't," he tried to determine it as he searched back and forth throughout the room. "…I c-can't tell where it's coming from."

He held his palm firmly on his forehead as he pointed upwards. He did not look at his finger as he then pointed downwards. "It's coming from the ceiling. It's coming from the floor. It's coming from every corner of the room…"

Then he shut his eyes tightly and moved both hands to his head. "It's coming from me… It's coming from my head…"

Ferb moved his neck back and forth as he rubbed his forehead. "It's getting louder… and it's not a humming…"

Phineas had come up to look at his squinted eyes under his wrists. Ferb took a deep breath.

"It sounds like… sounds like," Ferb was trying to put together. "L-like I'm stuck under a swimming pool… And… and a whole roomful of people are having a conversation on top of me."

"A conversation?" Phineas repeated. "Can you hear what they are saying?"

"N-no…" Ferb said, but his face had relaxed slightly. His open mouth was no longer tense as he lifted his right palm off of his temple. He stuck his hand out in front of him and let the fingers dangle loosely. "But they're out there… somewhere."

Phineas was very interested in Ferb's action. "Where's there?" he inquired curiously.

"I-I don't know." Ferb stretched his arm out further, as if he was trying vainly to grasp something. "Out there. Outside."

Ferb squinted up his eyes again as he tried to let the sounds seep into himself. He fought to make out what the voices were saying, or even, at least, to whom they belonged. But as he pushed on the skin of his head, Ferb could feel his hold on the sounds growing unsteady.

Turning his hand, Ferb let the palm rest upwards as he strained his fingers. "It's right there… it's right…! That's where I need to be."

The muffled sounds ran together and became a single, low tone once more. Ferb tripped forward as he tried to catch it, with his fingers out in front of him, as the intangible source slipped away. "No! That's where I want to be!"

Finding himself on the living room floor, Ferb looked up at Phineas, who had rushed over in concern. Phineas spoke caringly, "It's okay, Ferb. If you want to be there, I'll help you get to wherever 'there' is."

"Thanks," Ferb said gratefully, as Phineas helped him off the floor. Then a thought entered his head, and something occurred to him. He asked, deep in pondering, "Phineas, when you met me a week ago, why did you mention what you said, about the weather?"

Thinking about it for a second, Phineas answered, "I just said it, I guess."

"Maybe you said it, because you somehow knew it to be true," outlined Ferb. "I _am_ sad, down on the inside."

Then Ferb looked out the window at the twisting grey clouds. "And it's been cloudy ever since I got here."

Turning back to Phineas, Ferb gave a concluding sigh. "Phin. I think I've figured out where 'here' is."

"Really?" Phineas asked in wonder. "Where do you think it is?"

Ferb looked up at the ceiling as if he wanted to see through it. Then he looked over to the window, and gazed out to the Danville skyline. "This whole place was created by my subconscious. I'm inside my own mind."

Ferb brushed his fingers through his hair. "Everything in here was made by my brain, the buildings and trees are a recreation of the Danville I know, and this house was made from my memory of every corner of the rooms."

Then Ferb stopped his survey of the walls and looked over to Phineas, who was standing casually as he listened with interest to Ferb's reasoning.

"And you, Phineas," Ferb addressed with a point of his finger. "You're only a figment of my imagination."

Phineas stayed silent for a moment, and tipped his head. Then he answered cheerfully, "Cool. I've always wanted to be the figment of somebody's imagination."

Ferb was still caught up in his actively forming thoughts, letting them come out and speaking them as he worked through. "That's why you don't know the answers to any of the questions I ask you, because my brain never thought up answers to them. Why would it need to designate whether or not you go to high school?"

"Innntereeeesting," Phineas marveled. Then he replied back to Ferb, "Well now, hold up. If I come from inside your mind, then how come I don't act just like you?"

"Because you're not _me,"_ Ferb speculated. "You're my brain's interpretation of the real Phineas. So you act however my brain thinks the real Phineas would act."

Then Ferb stepped backwards so that he could easily see Phineas standing before him. Ferb framed his chin with his fingers and rested his elbow in his other hand. He looked Phineas all up and down with an analytical gaze.

"And, apparently, I know Phineas pretty well. Because you're just like him."

With a bright giggle, Phineas came over to sit back onto the couch. Ferb followed him to land close beside.

"But Mom and Candace came from your brain, too?" Phineas put forth. "How come we don't know you?"

Ferb took this and considered it for a moment. Then he shook his head as it came to him.

"My subconscious is scared," he said with a releasing exhale. "So it put me into one of my nightmares."

Ferb looked to his brother sitting beside him. Phineas looked back and gave him a little, inviting smile. Then, Ferb gazed distantly out towards the kitchen as he spoke quietly, "...A world without you guys."

A relieved smile crossed over Ferb's face as he sat up straighter on the couch. He reached up and stuck his fingers into his hair as he pulled his eyes wide.

"Hah!" he exclaimed. "That means somewhere out there, someplace outside, there's a Phineas who still remembers me!"

Ferb turned around to address the Phineas still lying, squished, on the couch cushions. Ferb looked as though he might bend over and hug him. "It's such a wonderful feeling to wake up from a dream and realize that all the irreplaceable things you thought you had lost were never really lost at all."

"Hmm, only one problem there though, Ferb," Phineas mentioned as he sat up to copy Ferb's position on the couch's edge. Phineas reached over and poked him, and Ferb flinched a bit. "You haven't woken up yet."


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Dropping his head slightly, Ferb looked at his feet. The sky outside crackled brightly. "…I haven't woken up yet."

Phineas kept looking at Ferb's slumped posture with an expression of consolation. Then, Ferb attempted to straighten, meeting Phineas' eyes again. Taking on a distant and thoughtful gaze, Ferb suggested, "There has to be an exit around here, somewhere… Have you ever seen a bright green exit sign, or a weird door in the wall or something?"

"No," Phineas said with a shake of his head. Then he pointed at the ceiling. "Maybe you have to fly up out of the sky? It's waaaay open up there."

Ferb tried to consider it, but he tossed it off with a wave. "I don't even know how I would get up there, even if that was true."

Then Ferb looked back up with the insightful proposal, "What if this big, metaphorical Danville is a representation of my mind, and I just have to find a road and walk out of it?"

"Okay!" Phineas agreed gleefully, hopping up off of the couch to stand on his feet. "Better go grab some good walking shoes, I dunno how far we'll have to walk out."

Then Phineas ran over to the front door, aiming for the pile of shoes by the floor mat. Yet, as he reached his destination he almost collided straight into Candace, who had just wandered in.

"Hi, Candace!" he greeted as he moved around her to find his shoes. "Ferb and I are going on a quest."

"You're doing what?" she asked, trying to spin around to speak to her brother by her feet. Phineas was nodding to signify that she had heard him correctly.

"So you're just up and leaving with him?" Candace responded in disbelief. "You've known him for a week!"

"I want to help him try to find his way out of here," Phineas presented. Now he had found his shoes and was digging his feet into them.

"Don't tell me you're starting to believe his crazy claims," Candace huffed. She bent down so she could whisper at Phineas, "He randomly shows up here and states that he's not only your long-lost brother, but _step_-brother? How far-fetched can it get?"

"He is my brother," Phineas said matter-of-factly as he bent up his knee and tied his laces.

"Oh, yeah? Since when?" was Candace's retort, standing up with her arms crossed in front of herself.

Phineas pulled his feet under himself and stood up saying, "Since this morning. We decided we're gonna be brothers now."

"You _decided_ that, huh? You can't just decide to be brothers. That's something you have to be born with."

"Nuh-uh," Phineas replied. "You don't have to be blood related to be brothers. He's my friend and I like it that way."

Candace didn't say anything for a second, so Phineas took the moment to speak up, "Why? Don't you like him, too?"

Glancing over to where Ferb was still sitting up on the couch, she finally gave up, "Alright, fine. So I like him a little. He's sweet."

Though, from his place in the living room, Ferb could hear everything going on by the front door, he was sitting back lazily as he listened. Eventually, however, he saw it time to head over and interrupt.

"I'm leaving anyway," he poked in. "Don't fight over who is or isn't coming with me. I'll just go by myself."

"What! No, I'm not letting you go all alone out there," Phineas denied, pulling Ferb by the arm as if he was trying to stop him from fleeing. "I already have my shoes on and everything."

"It's not like it matters. I'll be alone whether you come with me or not," Ferb murmured softly, with his chin on his chest. "…You don't even exist."

With a half-glance upwards, Ferb added, "And sorry, Candace. That goes for you, as well."

Candace rolled her eyes and gave up on the conversation, heading over to the back room.

Phineas lifted up an extra pair of shoes and tossed them into Ferb's surprised arms. He announced, "So what if I don't exist. I'll follow you anyway."

* * *

The closest road to leave Danville was found on the back side of their residential area that next morning. It was only a ten-minute walk from Phineas' house before they both came stopped at the edge of the concrete walkway.

"Here goes," Ferb breathed as he looked out at the grey surface that receded out to a tiny point in the distance. The sky still had a thick cloud layer over it, but it was most obviously the color of dawn.

"I don't think this is a nightmare," Phineas commented as he looked up at Ferb. Ferb peered back as Phineas elaborated. "I think it's kinda like an adventure."

Ferb gave another tired sigh, and started off onto the road. He walked straight in the center of it, knowing that he needn't bother with worrying about the presence of cars.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

As the bland scenery passed slowly by, Ferb had finally turned his head over his shoulder after what was probably hours. He spotted the grey spec of Danville on the plain, flat horizon, now nothing more than a dot.

Phineas was still skipping beside him, hitting the little pebbles with his feet and watching as they rolled far in front of him.

"So Ferb," Phineas started as he danced around the stone, kicking it merrily. "I come from inside your mind, huh?"

"Yep," Ferb replied, keeping his straight walk as Phineas ran all around him, energetically chasing the little plain plaything that he was getting so much entertainment out of.

Jumping out in front of Ferb's path, Phineas caused him to stop walking and look down at him.

"Oohh! Can you control me?" Phineas asked suggestively. He had crouched into a ready position with his hands stuck out, and looked as though he might suddenly karate-chop something, or sprint off to run a marathon. "Make me do something!"

"Hah, no, Phineas. I can't consciously control you," Ferb broke to him. "It's my subconscious that decides what you do."

Standing up a bit, Phineas released from his ready stance in favor of a slumped-shoulders stance of confusion. Ferb saw the curious explanation-seeking look in his eyes, and came over to stand closer to him.

"See, this is the conscious me, right here," Ferb said simply, placing his fingertips over his upper chest as he gestured to himself. He kept this position but tipped his eyes upwards. "Down here… stuck in the middle of all this."

With a glance to plain surroundings of the flat highway, Ferb continued, "It's my subconscious mind that made this whole place, and decides what happens in it. And that includes deciding what you're going to say or do next."

Ferb put his hands back to his sides as he resumed his slow trudge down the uninhabited road. "So no, Phineas. I can't control you any more than I can grow a new building out of the streets of Danville, or do something about this weather."

Dipping his head down, he added with a mumble, "Or, for that matter, tell myself to wake up from this thing. I suppose my subconscious mind has to decide that, too."

"Well, you're mind's still you," Phineas pointed out, running to catch up alongside him. "I'm sure it'll let you out, if you find the exit."

"Hold on," Ferb said with a halting hand as he stopped moving. "Aren't there supposed to be trees out here?"

Phineas stopped and looked around. The flatland was nothing but brown sandy plain as far as the eye could see, bordered by the whiteness of clouds that met the whole circle of the horizon line.

Looking down at their feet, both Phineas and Ferb noticed that the asphalt ended and broke off into pieces, giving way to an entirely unmarked expanse of sand ahead of them.

"There should be green trees and lakes out here…" Ferb reminded himself. "Danville is nowhere near a desert, I didn't think."

Phineas kicked a broken asphalt block with his foot. A few pieces of black dust fell off of it, and he looked up towards the vast nothingness.

"Should we go any farther?" Ferb asked as he surveyed the land that awaited them.

"Dunno. Do you think we should go farther?" Phineas returned.

Ferb just rubbed his head, hopping off the road and into the sandy dust. "I just want to get… to the outside. And we haven't reached the end yet."

* * *

Both pairs of feet kicked up piles of sand as Phineas and Ferb edged their way through the wide unknown. The black-tar highway was far behind them now, and the barren, treeless wasteland was all that surrounded them, offering no help for direction.

Slowing his walk only slightly, Ferb turned around to glance back towards where they had come from. He could see nothing but endless bright sand. He could see no trace of the highway, and definitely could no longer see Danville.

He turned back to face forward. "I don't think we'll be able to find the highway again," he said without looking up.

Then he did turn up to comment, "How long do you think we've been walking for?"

Phineas also peered backwards to where Danville should have been. Then he answered, "A really, really long time. Definitely a bunch of hours, probably something like six. Or ten."

The sky was it's usual dark shade of grey when Ferb looked up at it. "I wish I could tell what time it was," he said with a squint. "But these clouds don't help at all to see the sun."

"Mmm, I think it's good that the sun's not out," Phineas replied simply. When he looked down, he saw that Ferb was staring at him with confusion. So Phineas elaborated.

"Well, you know. We're out here in the middle of a desert," Phineas waved his hand at their surroundings. "If the sun was out, we'd be waaaay roasting. We'd probably get sunburnt."

Ferb smiled with a chuckle, and shook his head at him. "Phineas, I highly doubt that we can get sunburnt from an imaginary sun inside my mind."

"Sure we can," Phineas contradicted. "Imaginary Suns give Imaginary Sunburns."

"Right," Ferb said with a roll of his eyes. "Imaginary Sunburns."

"What, you don't like my reasoning? It could be true," Phineas said, pointing down to Ferb's feet. "Like right now you're imagining that you're walking in sand. You're not really walking in sand, but you pretty much are cause your imagining it."

Then Phineas drew out his finger and shoved it hard into Ferb's stomach, and Ferb bent over in reaction. Phineas then did it rapidly a second time, "And now you're being Imaginary Poked!"

Ferb fell over into the sand in a wisp of dust, as he could not stop his laughing. "Ah! Ouch, hah, stop it, Phineas!"

Phineas stood over Ferb, as he grinned with a cackle. "Check it out, Ferb! You just got Imaginary Poked by your own mind!"

Rolling over, Ferb pushed himself up as he spat out some of the dusty air he had managed to catch in his mouth. "You just did all that just to prove to me that we should be careful from your proposed, _Imaginary Sunburn?"_

Phineas nodded, "Yap. I bet it's just as bad as the real thing."

Staring at him through his own wide grin, Ferb came up to Phineas and pointed closely at him. "Well, I'm sure YOU don't have to worry about it."

Ferb have him a playful shove on the shoulder and caused Phineas to stagger backwards. "YOU don't exist!"

With that, Ferb took off quickly in the direction they had been previously walking. Phineas was left standing there with a lost look on his face, as though Ferb had just found a flaw in his supposedly well-thought-out argument.

"Hey, now!" Phineas called out after him, running to catch up. "Alright, so I don't exist and it probably doesn't affect me. My point still stands!"

Leaping in front of Ferb, Phineas started to walk backwards so that he could continue staring at him. "You don't like sunburn, right?"

"Fiiine, I'll admit it," Ferb finally caved. "I don't like Imaginary Sunburn any more than the next guy."

"See? Told ya so," Phineas finished, nodding with satisfaction. Ferb only smiled and rolled his eyes as they continued to walk.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

A light breeze came up Ferb's back as he and Phineas kept their diligent and steady pace. The grey overcast above them still had a slight glow to it. One section of the sky, a few degrees above the western horizon, was brighter than the rest, and Ferb guessed that the sun was hidden behind it.

Ferb gave a huge sigh. He tilted his head back on his neck and stared upwards. Then he looked over to Phineas. "My legs are getting really tired."

"Yeah," Phineas agreed. "I bet the day's almost over."

"We've been walking since morning…" Ferb groaned back. Then he glanced up and scanned every flat curve in the immediate area, and even turned to look behind him. He stared to his feet.

"This desert goes on for miles, in every direction," he said anxiously. "It has no end…"

Ferb addressed Phineas this time, with a hopeful tone. "Do _you_ have any idea how to get to the exit?"

"Nope," Phineas shook his head. He looked at Ferb in consideration and answered thoughtfully, "It's YOUR brain."

"Yeah, but I'm afraid I'm about as blind as anything else when I'm stuck in it," he replied dejectedly. Then Phineas digressed.

"Well, we have to be close," he said, pointing his whole arm out in front of them. "I mean, we've been walking nonstop for almost a day now."

"Uhggg, I need to find a way out of this place… I've been locked in here for what? Nine days? Maybe ten, I don't even know," Ferb spoke distractedly. "Though I only know a bit about neuroscience, if one stays _physically_ trapped inside his own mind for enough time, I'm sure he would soon go insane."

"Hmmm, I dunno, Ferb," Phineas said with the almost sarcastic tone of suggestion. "You HAVE already created an imaginary version of your brother, just so that you're not alone inside your brain."

Ferb covered his nose with his palm and shook his head with amusement. "Alright…. So we can cross schizophrenia off the list…"

Pulling up his hand to hold it like a paper, Phineas took out an invisible pencil and pretended to make a mark on it. "Check!"

Ferb just groaned at him, still holding a smirk. "Phineas, you're so much like him that it really does make me question my sanity."

Phineas just grinned at him.

They kept their tired and solid speed as they both continued to make their way out towards the bright sandy desert. But as Ferb looked down to his feet and around the plains, he realized that the entire time they had been walking, the dirt below them had been getting ever slowly whiter and whiter. He had not noticed the gradual change until it was hardly distinguishable from snow, aside from the rocky texture.

Ferb squinted as he placed his hand over his eyes to shield them from the powerful reflection, though its source was nowhere to be seen; the sun was still dim overhead.

"Phineas!" Ferb called out. "I can barely see anything."

"I can't either," Phineas' voice was heard. "It's like its not even coming from the sand."

The gentle breeze had been increasing as well, and now nipped at Ferb's pant legs and crawled up the back of his shirt. His clothes fluttered as the gusts picked up faster, now lifting up the loose sand in little wisps. They soon grew into big wisps.

"I still can't see anything!" Ferb hollered. Now he could not hear over the whipping wind, even if Phineas had answered him.

Then Ferb's surroundings changed. He felt a cold wooden floor on the side of his face, and he jumped as he adjusted to the fact that he was no longer standing up fighting wind currents, but now lying down on plain hardwood floorboards. He shook his head and blinked his eyes as he sat up with his legs crossed under him.

He was sitting on the floor of Phineas' bedroom, in the blank space where his own bed was supposed to be. As his sight returned to normal after the bombardment of brightness, Ferb could start to make out some features of the room. He spotted Phineas sitting on the top of a desk, with his feet hanging off the edge.

"W-what happened?" was the first thing Ferb said as he scratched his neck.

Phineas leaned back on his palms to use his arms as supports behind him. He rested his head low between his shoulders replying, "Maybe we got to the end of the world?"

Ferb just bent forward on his knees, and Phineas stayed in his spot on the desk. Closing one eye in examination, Ferb asked him, "Why did you jump up there, anyway?"

"I didn't jump up here. This is just where I am."

Placing a palm on the wood planks, Ferb pushed himself up to a standing position. He huffed, "So. We finally got to the edge of my mind and all it did was throw us back to your house, land me on the floor and you got tossed onto the desk?"

"…Pretty much," Phineas answered after a glance down to where his legs were sitting.

Ferb decided that he would sit on Phineas' bed and rest his rubbery legs. It felt good to finally stop moving them for a while, even though he knew it was all in his head. He sighed loudly.

"Well there's nothing else out there," Ferb explained it away with the toss of his hand. "So, wherever the exit is, it's somewhere here in Danville."

Phineas leaned over the desk towards Ferb, who was staring at his fingers. "So we're back to square one?"

"Yep," Ferb breathed. "Back to square one."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Easing the white door open, Phineas peered into the plain, bright room. The slow blips of machines still ran throughout it, but Phineas had grown used to it.

"Hey, Ferb…" Phineas whispered as he came and set his school backpack down by the end of the bed. Though Ferb made no response behind his closed lids and neutral face, Phineas still made it a routine to talk to him about everything and anything, each day when school ended.

"We had a math quiz today…" Phineas mentioned, pulling up his chair that he was so often sitting in, and putting his crossed elbows on the bedspread. "I wished you were there to study with me. You're always better at remembering how the formulas go."

Phineas turned his head on his hands, and looked sleepily up at the unexpressive face of Ferb. He watched with yearning in his chest at the way Ferb's mouth fit around the tube connector.

"I haven't seen you smile in well over a week now…" Phineas moaned with a worn-out stare over the bed covers. "I want to see you move your fingers or blink your eyes again."

He gave an exhausted breath; he had stopped attempting to hold back his tears a few days ago. "I miss your smile, Ferb."

Phineas slid closer to the pillow, and bent over to grasp both arms around the top of Ferb's. He snuggled close and rested his head on his brother's shoulder, just as he closed his eyes to begin to nod off.

"I miss you."

* * *

It seemed now, after over a week of Ferb's staying with them, that Candace and their mom had warmed up to the newcomer in their house. Now, his mom trusted him enough to let him sleep bundled up in blankets on the floor of Phineas' room, as she had promised. Nonetheless, Ferb had awoken reluctantly the next morning, and now sat at the kitchen table beside to Phineas.

"It could be _anywhere," _Ferb was reminding him as they tossed ideas for the day back and forth.

Phineas put out, "What does a mind-exit look like?"

"I have absolutely no idea," Ferb answered. Then he took a glance at the kitchen clock; it was already 9am. "But we need to find it, and we're going to have to start somewhere."

Standing up out of his chair, Ferb remarked, "When I first landed here a week ago, I appeared in a ditch on the side of road by the south bridge."

Phineas mirrored his movement of standing up. "Sure, it's as good a place as any to start, I guess."

Because Phineas and Ferb's walking shoes were covered in dust, both pairs now sat next to the front door in a heap. Not bothering to take the time to clean them, they decided to wear different shoes today.

Ferb had thought, perhaps, that the sun would opt to peek its way out from the overcast. But, as he ducked his head out of the front door behind Phineas, he looked up and saw nothing but clouds that chilly morning.

They made their way along Maple Drive, heading for the center of town. The residential area was on the eastern side of Danville, so Phineas and Ferb had a fairly long walk before they reached the southern bridge.

Approaching the road into the city, Ferb stopped. He cupped his hand to his ear and turned the side of his head closer to the strange sound he had picked up.

"Can you hear that?" he asked as he tried to make it out.

"Yeah…" Phineas replied. "Its like talking and walking and city noises."

Both of them gave each other the same simultaneous stare of realization, and started in a run towards the heart of the city. Immediately, Ferb saw that their speculation was true. Many bustling, busy Danville citizens were wandering all up and down the streets.

"The people are back!" Phineas observed.

But Ferb was more intently watching them than Phineas was. He wiped his head and closed one eye. "It's weird though…"

As he scanned the crowds, Ferb had trouble focusing on any of the people within them. He tried to watch a businesswoman with her briefcase strolling along the sidewalk, but after a few seconds he had to break his stare away and rub his eyelids vigorously; the blurriness had become unbearable.

He had to switch his gaze from person to person, and could not stay hovering over one for long. Everyone was walking with the same posture; no one had a jump in their step or a slouch in their shoulders. No one was dressed in bright colors, or waving to a friend, or ordering a coffee. Not a single person even changed the expression on their face.

It was as though Ferb's mind was not imagining individuals in a group, but just imagining _people._

Ferb walked forward and began to push his way past the busy crowd. Phineas tried to keep up with him as they made their way along the streets. They passed shops without names on them, store windows with no displayed products, and overheard no bits of conversation.

"It's still quite eerie," Ferb mumbled, passing another grey, wooden stand.

Phineas nodded in uneasy agreement, then pointed ahead to an unmarked sign. "Look, we're almost to the bridge, though."

Sure enough, when Ferb looked forward he could see the beginnings of the metal supports that held up the bridge leaving Danville. He led the way to stand near the start of the pedestrian walkway, and Phineas came to join him as he stopped.

Leaning against the railing with his elbows, Ferb just looked over the edge and listened to the sounds of the water. He took a breath as he just watched.

"…Well we're here. What do we do now…?"

Phineas was leaning over the railing as well, following Ferb's gaze at the watery shore and beach below. Ferb squinted his eyes tightly, hurt as memories came dumping into him.

"…You know, we made a beach once. Right in our backyard," Ferb mentioned distantly.

Changing his attention over to Ferb, Phineas stared at him until he finally remarked, "We did? Man, that sounds like loooots of fun."

"Yeah, it was…" Ferb murmured as he pushed his cheek onto his palm and it squished over his eye. "We had a surfing competition… Even a game of limbo. Candace had a blast…"

Ferb lifted up his head a bit and looked fretfully to Phineas. "You really don't remember any of that?"

Phineas was no longer standing over the railing, but had stepped back slightly and was standing straight, about six inches away from it. He was still shorter than Ferb, even though the latter was hunched over.

"…Sorry, Ferb," Phineas whispered with a dismal shake of the head. "…But we've still become good friends after only knowing each other for a bit more than a week, huh?"

"Yeah… sure we have, Phin," Ferb spoke softly, returning to leaning on his wrist.

Then a low grumbling sound was heard, and Ferb withdrew his hand to look down at his stomach. Then it growled again.

"I haven't eaten any real food in… a long while," Ferb said, glaring downwards and pointing a firm finger at the source of the noise. "And I mean that _quite_ literally."

Looking back out to the water with a longing in his eyes, Ferb kept talking. "The first thing I'm going to do when I wake up is go and get a real life cheeseburger. From a real life restaurant."

This time, Ferb placed his face in both of his hands. "I'm getting a little tired of all this imaginary stuff."

Phineas looked with concern towards his brother, then gave his own long stare over the still harbor waters. "…Did we have a snack shack at our beach?"

Ferb just nodded slowly from under his hands.

"Cool," Phineas made conversation. "…I like beaches. They're like the travel destinations of everywhere."

Ferb's eyes opened wide from behind his fingers. He froze for a moment, before shooting over to Phineas. "What did you say?"

A little surprised, Phineas answered, "Only that everybody likes to travel to-"

"Phineas," Ferb started, caught up in thought, as he turned away from the railing to face him. "Why would my brain not bother to create the details of a crowd of people, but it decides to stick a perfectly well-designed _travel advertisement_ on a wall?"

"What wall?" Phineas replied, confused.

"Last week, right before…" Ferb winced a bit. "Right before… we met each other. My mind had tossed me on top of the roof of a random building. I came downstairs and I saw a travel advertisement on a wall. If I'm stuck inside my brain, then what else would 'travel' mean other than the exit?"

Ferb grabbed onto Phineas' wrist as he started to run off, dragging him along. "Come on, I remember the building was this way!"


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

Phineas tripped after Ferb as they both sprinted into the city. No one turned their heads at their oddly hurried run, and the many Danville citizens just kept walking straight ahead, unwaveringly.

Ferb turned the corner on a block, recalling exactly where he had seen the tall skyscraper of the travel agency. He came skidding to a stop in front of the several glass doors, and Phineas attempted not to stumble as he fell down behind him.

Sticking his forehead on the glass, Ferb cupped his hands around his eyes to get rid of the glare. He searched back and forth through the dark room, which had remained lightless and uninhabited, until he found the familiar wall in the corner.

"No…" Ferb mouthed as he slowly backed up. "It-it's gone… It was right here, I saw it…"

By now, Phineas had recovered himself from falling on the sidewalk. He came up beside Ferb and mimicked the action of looking through the doors. "Where was it?"

Still standing a few paces back, Ferb lifted a finger and pointed to the blank space where he had previously seen a lively and inviting poster. Now it was nothing but flat, beige drywall.

"Maybe it fell down?" Phineas suggested. Ferb shook his head with doubt, but nevertheless forced himself to step forward and grab onto the golden vertical bar, pulling the glass door open. They both started to walk inside, leaving the ambient sounds of the street, and entered into the quiet and empty lobby of the building.

Ferb weaved his way between the wooden desks, and his heart sunk when he noticed that, now, the pens had been clearly organized differently. Stacks of technical documents were tossed on the desks' corners in place of the previous brightly-colored travel brochures, as if the pamphlets had never existed.

Already able to see the blank wall from his place across the room, Ferb didn't bother to walk over. He could see Phineas investigating it, and there was no fallen poster folded on the carpet below.

"It was a travel agency, I swear it was…" Ferb was mumbling as he pushed his way back over to the glass doors. "This was definitely the right place…"

Then Ferb caught sight of the lettering on the door. He reached up his hand carefully in front of him and lightly ran the tips of his fingers over the white engraving. Though it was printed backwards from the outside, Ferb could still read it with no trouble.

_Raund & Raund Law Offices_

"LAW offices…!" Ferb shouted, still attempting to hold in his disappointment. He shoved his fist onto the glass as he let his head fall down dejectedly. "I wanted to _travel_ out of this place, I don't need LAW offices."

Ferb went over and slumped on the floor at the foot of a cushioned couch, not bothering to crawl up on it. He stared outside to the streets, which had lost the brightness of daylight in favor of a grey tone coming from the clouds. Ferb just sat there for a good twenty minutes.

Eventually, after he had calmed his frustration for a moment, Ferb turned to Phineas, who was still standing looking bored near Ferb's seat, and mentioned sadly, "…We can't find the exit if we don't even have a place to start looking."

Dropping down to the floor in front of him, Phineas crossed his legs so he could better listen to Ferb. He leaned forward a bit, as Ferb continued muttering.

"If we have to check every door of every basement of every building in all of Danville… I don't know if I'll ever get out of here."

"Sure you will," Phineas assured him, pulling his feet around himself in a different position.

But Ferb didn't pay much attention to Phineas' consoling words. Instead, he stared distantly into a random corner and whispered with a hint of craving in his voice.

"Phineas… I'm lonely."

With a little turn of his head, Phineas answered, "I'm here, Ferb."

"I know… but it's not the same," he said while only tossing glances distractedly. "You're really fun to hang around, and you're just like him to the tee…"

Then Ferb breathed hard and loudly, tucking his knees close to himself. "…But at the end of the day, all you are is a hallucination."

Phineas made no sign of intending to answer, and just stayed silent with a little prompting look on his face, forcing Ferb to continue.

"A really nice and helpful hallucination, I'll give you that," he said, trying to smile. It never came through. "But when I close my eyes and think things over… I know I truly am all alone in here."

"You'll get out of here in no time," Phineas replied, keeping his optimism. Then he slid closer to the couch, and bent over to grasp both arms around the top of Ferb's. He snuggled close and rested his head on his brother's shoulder, just as he closed his eyes to begin to nod off.

When Ferb felt the warm grasp of Phineas' arms around his, he could not suppress the little warm grin that crept over his face. He looked downwards to him and gave him a caring look, though Phineas had already shut his eyes.

"Phin…" Ferb whispered, moving his head to face forward as he directed his words into the still, lightless air ahead of him. "If you're out there somewhere, I miss you, too."


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

Leaning back in the passenger's seat of the family station wagon that Saturday morning, Phineas tilted his head to take a glance out the window. Then, he returned to fiddling with the little black piece of metal in his hands. It was the size and shape of a remote, but looked quite different, with a white gauge and thin needle on the front.

"Thanks for driving me, Candace…" he mumbled to his sister behind the wheel, without looking up from his detailing hands.

Moving only for a quick glimpse away from the road as she continued to drive, Candace mentioned, "You could have driven yourself to the hospital, you know. Isn't that why you even got your license? To drive?"

"I know. But Ferb always drives me places…" Phineas said quietly. "I don't like driving all by myself."

Then Phineas repositioned himself slightly, so that he could better bend over the little object that held his attention. "Plus I wanted a few more minutes to work on this before I give it to him."

At this, Candace tried to keep her eyes ahead as she half-looked at the object. She asked, "What is that thing, anyway? Don't you normally make big things?"

"Depends," replied Phineas simply. "I make whatever is helpful. Right now, I decided to make this."

"Aaaand what, pray tell, does it do?"

"Oh, I dunno," he responded modestly. "The doctors said Ferb was thinking about something… Maybe it'll help him think."

Upon reaching the drop-off doors of the hospital, Candace turned the car in the circular roadway to stop by the sidewalk of the entryway. Phineas unbuckled his seatbelt and opened the car door.

"So I assume you're going to be a while?" Candace confirmed as she leaned over the armrest to speak to him out the door. Taking a moment, Phineas nodded.

"Alright, just call somebody when you're ready to get picked up," Candace told him, right as Phineas gave another nod and closed the car. He watched as the red station wagon turned and rolled away.

Phineas entered into the sliding glass doors and started to make his way up to the second level towards Ferb's room; by now, he knew the way by heart. During the whole walk he kept his little black box closely by his side, careful to handle it gently.

"Hi Ferb…" Phineas whispered as he pushed his way through the door. He could immediately see the familiar figure of the unmoving Ferb who was tucked neatly in the blankets. Phineas grabbed his chair and slid it close.

"I brought you something," Phineas talked to him, drawing up the device as he laid his elbows on the white bedspread. "I made it especially for you."

Edging his hand lightly forward, Phineas grasped softly onto Ferb's limp wrist. He lifted it slowly and caringly, and placed the black thing onto his upturned palm. Then, Phineas took Ferb's fingers and enclosed them securely around the object, and placed his own other hand delicately on top. Immediately the little needle zoomed to the other side of the gauge and began to emit a rapid blip.

"Well, the doctors are right… You're definitely thinking about something," Phineas interpreted. He still kept both hands encircled around Ferb's, but rested his chin down onto his brother's knee. He moaned loudly.

"I-I don't know where you are in there, Ferb," Phineas stuttered through a cracking voice. "B-b-but I just want you to come home."

* * *

Ferb shook his head as he pushed off the floor. He felt a rush of coldness, and discovered that he had been shivering. Also occurring to him, as he opened his eyes from sleep, was the gritty texture of the ground beneath him. Under his palms was a white concrete sidewalk, and as he looked up and around, he saw a green metal dumpster and several strewn brown boxes lying in the alleyway where he had, apparently, been sleeping.

Spinning to a sitting position, Ferb didn't stand all the way up just yet. Right now, he was simply attempting to gain his bearings, and trying to remember how he got there. Then he realized the distinct lack of a certain talkative illusion.

"Uh, Phineas?" Ferb called out. For a moment Ferb thought the back alley would remain silent, but soon there was a shuffling sound as a few cardboard boxes were tossed aside, and Phineas popped his head out from beneath the pile.

"Yap?" he said as he turned his head around to find Ferb. When his gaze fixed upon him seated on the sidewalk, Phineas smiled at him.

"Oh, good, you haven't left," Ferb said with a relaxing sigh. "I thought maybe you weren't here."

Phineas gave a confused look to his brother. "Where would I be if not here?"

"I don't know," Ferb put together as he got to his feet, brushing off dust. "You could have given up on me and went back to your house, because we're clearly not making any headway out here."

Increasing his perplexed complexion, Phineas pointed with a hand out of the alley up towards the buildings and sky, and started, "If this whole place is your mind…"

Then Phineas pointed to himself. "And I came out of your mind…"

Throwing his hands in a flinging motion, Phineas gestured to a random direction. "And YOU are waaaay on the other side of town, what possible reason would I have to go off and do my own thing? I don't exist, so naturally I don't have any nonexistent pastimes to go and do at my house."

Ferb dipped his chin down onto his chest. "You know, that's a little depressing."

"What?" Phineas contradicted with a bright grin. "It's depressing that I have nothing better to do with my time than follow you around while you try to escape from wherever is here? I mean, isn't that the whole reason why you thought me up in the first place? I'm just doing my purpose."

Curiosity approaching him, Ferb asked, "…And what _is_ your purpose?"

Phineas just gave a shrug. "I dunno. Probably just to keep you company."

Then he leapt over the boxes to land energetically beside Ferb. He re-addressed him, "Cause we don't want you going all crazy and losing yourself in here out of loneliness and despair, do we?"

Ferb looked back up and gave him a mocking smirk. "Oh, _no,_ Phineas. Going crazy? We don't want THAT."

With an amused roll of his eyes, Ferb directed his under-the-breath mumble at Phineas. "You and your… _Imaginary Sunburn…"_

"Hey!" Phineas answered, returning the deviously annoyed smile. "It could happen!"

"Riiiight," Ferb said with sarcasm. He shook his head, chuckling in slight irritation. "I still can't believe it was MY brain that came up with that."

"You secretly believe it," Phineas whispered teasingly, with a laugh into Ferb's ear.

Ferb made a 'pft' sound, and elected to change the subject. He looked up at the walls of the alley, and crossed his arms in examination. "How did we get here, anyway? I thought we fell asleep in that building?"

Phineas shrugged. "Just woke up here, I guess."

Ferb tossed his hands dismissively to his sides and remarked, "Figures. My brain has a nasty habit of suddenly throwing me places, for some reason."

"Huh. Yeah, weird random places," Phineas commented back to him.

"Hang on..." Ferb said, processing a thought. "They weren't random though. I mean, after we tried to leave and we landed at your house was like returning me to... "The Center of My Danville," or something."

Phineas gave him a funny look. Ferb stopped talking for a moment and said an aside, "Yes, I know it sounds cheesy. All I mean is that it was an important place. Not random."

He gave Phineas an 'I'm thinking now' glare, and continued, "The travel agency... or law offices or whatever you want to call it. True, it wasn't the exit, but it was still the most elaborately created office building in here so far. That doesn't _seem_ random."

Phineas was now listening intently, and gave his extension, "So what you're saying is that maybe there's something important here, now?"

"Precisely," Ferb answered. Then he peered around the alley's corner and gave a satisfied smirk. "Something that sticks out clearly. Like that."

Phineas followed him around the corner to see what he was referring to. Ferb was now walking towards the side of a city bus stop, which had a slot on the back to hold ad space. This bus stop obviously had the spot used.

"...What is it a picture of?" Phineas asked as they both came to a stop in front of it. Ferb tilted his head sideways with a scratch.

"I don't know, I can't make all of it out," Ferb said as he tried to squint to get it in view. Considering he was standing two feet from it, Ferb thought that he _should_ have been able to see the whole thing clearly, in a normal situation. Today was far from a normal situation. There was one thing, however, that he could tell very vividly about the picture.

"It's definitely a picture of fire," Ferb concluded.

"Okaaay," Phineas replied with a thoughtful tone. "So your brain says: "Fire is important"?"

"I would… assume so," came Ferb's tentative answer. "I can't think of any other reason that this picture would show up so much more noticeably than the rest of the things in the area."

"Soooooo… _how_ is fire important?" Phineas questioned plainly.

With a surveying glance around and up to the grayish-white sky, scoped by the tops of the surrounding towers, Ferb answered with contemplation, "My mind isn't my enemy."

Phineas cocked his head, asking with harmless interest, "What's that mean?"

"Think about it, Phineas. Why did my brain bother to _name_ the building? Sure, it got its point across that it wasn't a travel agency anymore. But look." Ferb pointed a hand at each of the nearby buildings as he took his gaze over them. "It didn't even take the power to give most of these buildings color, much less name them."

"So _Raund & Raund Law Offices_ is still significant somehow?" Phineas prompted him. Ferb half-nodded and just kept talking, deep in consideration.

"My subconscious isn't my enemy," he repeated. "It's not keeping me in here like a prisoner, I'm _stuck_ in here. And it doesn't like this any more than I do."

Facing directly at the orange-and-yellow ad in front of him, Ferb put a hand on his chin and eyed it scrutinizingly. "…So it's trying to help me find the exit. By, apparently, sending me hints in any way it can."

Then Ferb turned and started to walk along the city sidewalk, tossing another sentence to Phineas, who ran to follow him. "Hints that make NO sense, but clues nonetheless."

"Cool," Phineas said, walking alongside him now. "It's like a scavenger hunt."

"Umm, sure, Phineas," Ferb said with a little skeptical grin. "Sort of like that…kind of."


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

"Oohhh, lookit, lookit!" Phineas called out as he rushed ahead of Ferb. They had only been walking for about five minutes away from the bus stop, when Phineas claimed he had spotted a parked product supplier truck behind a corner.

As he approached it with Ferb following in tow, Phineas said sing-songingly, "III foooound anoooother oooone."

Ferb came over to stand beside Phineas, placing his hands on his hips so that he could look up at the side of the truck with examination. Phineas did have a point; this truck was definitely more colorful than any of the grey-or-white vehicles they had passed so far.

Upon further analysis, Ferb saw that most of one half of the picture was taken up by an exaggerated, smiling animal character. The other half was covered by elaborately designed text: _Tracker's Pet Food Unlimited_.

"Seriously," Ferb said with a growingly annoyed frown. He sat down on the edge of the raised curb. "At least it's a clue, I guess."

But Ferb wasn't done talking when Phineas joined him on the sidewalk. Ferb turned to him and said, "But "Pet Food"? Why do brains always have to talk in riddles?"

"Okay," Phineas started. "So what do the law firm, fire, and this Tracker's Pet Food truck have in common?"

Following was a moment of silence, in which neither of them offered an idea. Then Phineas broke it with reference to his own logic. He said with a scrunched up lip, "That makes absolutely no sense at all."

"I know," Ferb agreed, still attempting to work it out. "It can't be of any help if we don't know what it means."

Then Ferb gave an air-filled exhale, and commented, "I wish Phineas was here. He would be able to unravel to enigma of my mind in two seconds flat."

Edging forward a bit, Phineas tried to see Ferb's eyes. He asked with confusion, "He knows your mind better than you do?"

Ferb turned away with a sad look. "Oh, I don't know. Maybe I'm just rambling nonsensically. But Phineas is good with puzzles."

Holding up a finger, Phineas gave Ferb a reassuring poke. "You're good with puzzles, too."

"Yeah, I know," Ferb replied, taking the bases of his wrists and pressing them against his forehead. He dipped his head between his arms. "But I'm not really up for solving riddles right now. I just want to go home."

_...you to come home._

Ferb opened his eyes a bit and tipped his head upwards to look at Phineas. He asked after a moment, "What was that?"

Phineas, who had been mirroring Ferb's actions and was staring down at his feet, took a glance at him. He answered in reaction, "Huh? I didn't say anything."

"I could have sworn I heard you say something," Ferb replied, still deep in processing.

Then Phineas gave a surprised gasp and shot his posture straight up. "Oooh! Maybe it was Real Phineas and you can hear him from the outside!"

"...You think so?" Ferb asked, widening his eyes as he considered it.

"I dunno. Do you think it was?" Phineas echoed. Then he yanked both hands up to his own mouth and covered it tightly. He said a few more words muffled from behind his fingers. "Ima be quiet now, so you can hear."

Facing forward again, Ferb shut his eyes and tried to focus on whatever he could.

"Hang-hang on..." Ferb said, holding up his palm before him. He looked down at it as he flexed his fingers in and out. "I think... I think there's something in my hand..."

Phineas reached over to grab Ferb by the fingers. He brought his hand over to his eyes so close that he almost touched it to his nose as he stared into it. "...Nope I don't see anything."

"Hah, no, Phineas," Ferb laughed as he pulled his hand back. Then he formed it into a fist and resumed his alternation between slowly squeezing it and releasing the tension. "Not this hand. I mean my real one..."

With a tight clutch, Ferb lowered his hand, closed his eyes, and tipped his head toward the sky. "...The one that's outside, out there."

"Really?" Phineas responded, scooching closer to now merely peer over Ferb's shoulder. "What do you think is in it?"

"I-I don't know..." Ferb answered haphazardly, clearly attempting to hold his focus, still maintaining his tipped head and shut eyes. He was continuing to weave his fingers back and forth, trying to feel the shape of the intangible object and envision every detail of what it could look like.

"I-I think it's square..." Ferb whispered. Then he winced in thought. "No... rectangular. It has edges, an-and is made of... of..."

Ferb drew up his fist in front of his closed and squinted eyes. "...metal."

But then he frowned and shook his head. "Or-or hard plastic. I can't tell."

Ferb flinched a bit. He thought he could barely catch a couple single words through the ambient sounds of the street, and recognized them welcomingly and without doubt as the familiar voice of his brother.

_...help...to think._

"Phineas..." Ferb said softy, rubbing his fingers together as he contemplated. "It's the names... not the rest of it...!"

Repositioning to look Phineas directly in the eye, Ferb continued to work through it while Phineas listened intently. "It doesn't make any sense if you think of it as lawyers, fire and pet food. The names that my mind created-Raund & Raund and Tracker's-are the parts that are unique. Liiike... Tracker's, for instance..."

Waving his pointer finger in a circle, Ferb looked to the corner of his eyes in analysis. "Tracker... tracks, like... like, rails. Like a train track..."

Then Ferb snapped his fingers, threw them on his knee, and pointed at Phineas. "And train wheels run _round and round!"_

Giggling merrily behind his hands, Phineas almost fell over. "Haha no, Ferb! That's a bus," he informed him through laughter. Then Phineas began to hum a giddy tune.

"Phineas...!" Ferb exclaimed at him. "My brain isn't trying to write children's songs. It's trying to help us get out of here."

Shaking his head and reclaiming himself, Phineas breathed as he pointed at Ferb. "Na. Helping _you_, ya mean."

"Phin, I don't need a figment of my imagination correcting my pronoun use," Ferb said, attempting to suppress a chuckle. Then he stood up from the sidewalk and peered down the monotonously busy Danville street.

"The clues point to a train, so I say we check the train station," Ferb speculated as he started off down the block, motioning for Phineas to follow.

"Okay," Phineas said, jumping to walk alongside him. "But what's fire got to do with any of it?"

"That I'm not so sure," Ferb admitted as he stuck his fingers through his hair. "I just hope I don't have to crash a train into a flaming explosion or something, if I want to get out of here."

* * *

The Danville Train station, unlike the rest of the city, was unsettlingly quiet. From the stillness, Ferb could almost see an invisible white mist hovering over the open tracks and empty waiting seats of the hall. Not a soul was wandering around the marble floor, and it gave Ferb the same unnaturally lonely feeling that he had felt when first exploring this new Danville.

As Ferb led the way into the front doorways, Phineas followed him and they both began to give the station a thorough survey.

"Check everywhere," Ferb commanded to Phineas, who immediately followed his order and started to weave back and forth through the seats and open doorways. Ferb voiced his methods as he began to do the same, "It could be anywhere, somewhere on one of the trains."

Phineas was approaching the parallel array of tracks, and ended up on the other side of them. He looked back and forth along all the rails, before finally halting and peering upwards to Ferb, who was meandering around the ticketing area.

"But there's no trains here…!" Phineas shouted over the wide gap in the low floor that housed the tracks. Ferb looked up and saw that Phineas had been right: Each rail space for an arriving train was strangely vacant.

"I would think it would be a departure we're looking for, but we might have to look at the arrivals, too," Ferb suggested in a loud voice across the space.

But Phineas was shaking his head. He threw his arm straight to point at the entire station. "No, I mean there's no trains _anywhere_ in here."

By now, Ferb had already started to climb over the barrier to join Phineas on his side of the tracks. When he reached him, he followed Phineas' stare over the long, receding track line.

"If there's no trains, how am I supposed to get out of here…" Ferb spoke anxiously. He looked down the line at the blank whiteness that it disappeared into. Upon further inspection, Ferb guessed that it was nothing more than the fog coming up from the bay beneath them.

Ferb looked backwards, around and up at the two-stories of the station, the second of which was cornered by a golden balcony railing. The whole place still emanated with an eerie quietness.

"What if it's not a train…" he whispered. After Phineas perked up, Ferb continued. "I knew the clues pointed towards a rail and track… but I just assumed it meant a train track."

With a hard thump on his head, Ferb slapped himself in revelation. "I don't know why I never thought of it before! It's been sitting _right_ on the pier next to the southern bridge this entire time!"

Phineas jumped in surprise as Ferb grabbed onto his shoulders, attempting to contain his own joy at his discovery. "It's not train rails! It's a _rollercoaster!"_

Trying to take a breath between words, Ferb just kept explaining. "I mean, going round and round on the loops was the most fun part about the one we made!"

Barely even having a chance to nod his agreement, Phineas was suddenly yanked by the arm and pulled towards the station's exit.


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

The sprint towards the amusement park pier took half as long as any other travel they had made through Danville during those weeks. Mostly because Ferb had not stopped for even a second as Phineas was dragged along behind him.

They tripped over their feet as they both came to a sliding skid at the park's entryway. This location, too, was void of people, but not in an unsettling way like the others had been. Here, the park had long since been abandoned and now held a feel that the neglected grounds were longing for any consideration.

Ferb pushed through the broken gates and made his way towards the start of the park's rollercoaster. Phineas trudged his feet through the thick dirt alongside him, until the twists of the coaster's track came into view.

They both came to a slow stop, and planted their feet in front of the several parked roller cars. Passing their gazes over all of them, it was Phineas who first spoke up.

"Which one is it?"

Taking a moment of thought and a breath, Ferb drew out a finger to point directly at one on the far side. It was a bright red color, with yellow licks of fire painted along the side. "That one."

Clambering over the unneeded cars, Ferb made his way towards the clear one he had indicated. Phineas did so as well, and watched as Ferb lifted himself over and came to sit firmly on the curved plastic seat.

Once he had been settled, Ferb gripped his hands securely on the silver safety bar. After gathering himself, Ferb looked up at Phineas, who was still standing up straight beside the car. "…Are you going to come over here and sit with me?"

"Huh? No, I'm not going," Phineas replied calmly. Ferb kept his inquisitive face pointed at him.

Then Phineas respectfully closed his eyes, and gave a surprisingly mature shake of his head. When he opened them again, he finally answered, "Maybe it was fun, but you've told me yourself, Ferb. I don't exist. And this isn't where _you_ belong."

Taking his gaze off of the track, Ferb glanced over the pier at the grey towers of Danville, and upwards at the dark and cloudy sky. Then he peered back to Phineas, saying, "But I can't leave you all alone here, in this gloomy place."

"But Ferb," was Phineas' reply, coming a little closer to the side of the car to talk to him better. He showed a small, modest grin. "You're not leaving me anywhere. I was never even here to begin with. I'm the same as this whole place: All in your head."

He pointed a finger at the tracks in front of Ferb. "And right now, Real Phineas really wants you to wake up."

"He does?" Ferb said, eagerly looking all around himself as he sat up straighter. "Can you hear him somewhere?"

Phineas laughed a bit, almost amused. "I don't have to hear him to know that. I know that because YOU know that!"

Gripping harder onto the bar, Ferb planted his feet against the plastic inside of the car, and faced ahead. Phineas prompted, "So wake up, Ferb…! Wake up!"

_Wake up!_

Ferb's ears felt fuzzy as Phineas' voice began to grow softer. It sounded as though it was becoming distant, yet Ferb felt no wind against his face and no change in balance to tell him that he was moving.

Turning around, Ferb meant to check if he could see anything receding behind him. But then he realized that he had lost his vision. He tried to grip harder onto the metal bar to avoid the feeling of vertigo, but he could no longer tell where his arms or legs were. His mind spun as ambiguous sounds warped into deafening silence, and the blackness around him slid towards a dark red color.

Only after he slowly regained feeling in his limbs did Ferb realize that he had been cold. Now, as the quietness faded off to be replaced by slow, melodic blips, he felt a welcoming sensation of warm coziness along all his arms, legs, and chest. Finally, after days and days of yearning, he could really feel himself.

* * *

Phineas rested, exhausted, with his cheek squished against his crossed arms. He had been trying his hardest to stay up for as long as he could, but eventually he had given in and accidentally nodded off on the comfortable white bed sheet.

He was awoken by a soft shape that grazed the top of his wrist, and Phineas tipped his eyes open. He saw that Ferb's hand was draped lightly over his own. Raising his head, Phineas merely gazed tiredly at it, thinking the automatic thought, _I don't remember lying that there before I fell asleep._

Then the paper band on Ferb's arm moved a bit as the fingers twitched, and Phineas felt an almost undetectable squeeze around his wrist.

Phineas slowly moved to pull up his chin from resting on the covers. He turned his head to follow Ferb's arm upwards to his face, where he saw a little slit under his lowly raised eyelids. Beneath them, Phineas spotted half of a hidden pupil: staring right at him.

Feeling his own heart stop right in his chest, Phineas choked on the lump that had jumped into his throat. He felt as though his lungs had collapsed, as he could not force himself to take another breath of air.

"F-F-Ferb?" Phineas mumbled almost inaudibly. He reached over to clutch Ferb's hand desperately between both of his. "Your eyes are open… are you… are you…?"

Lowering the lids, Ferb's eyes made several slow, tight blinks. With each re-opening, his pupils were focused on a different corner of the room, and no part of his body moved aside from the muscles in his face. After enough of these, the irises returned to looking at Phineas.

With his teeth clamping down on the plastic connector in his mouth, Ferb brightened and Phineas felt another, firmer, squeeze on his hand. Then, Ferb grew the tiniest little smile that crept onto the corner of his lip.

"FERB!" Phineas exclaimed, releasing his grip on his hand and leaping ecstatically, straight onto the top of the bed. He wrapped his arms quickly around Ferb's neck. Immediately Ferb sat up and began to let out a nasty, muffled cough.

This caused Phineas to recoil back almost as fast as he had jumped forward. He did not waste a second to cover his own mouth in fright, and begin worrying, "Oh! I'm so sorry Ferb! I hope I didn't hurt you, did I?"

He elected to, instead, just hug Ferb by the arm. When he had to let go, Phineas looked back upwards so he could see Ferb's face again. His eyes were still focused intently on Phineas, as if he had never moved them off.

Standing up from where he had sat back in his chair, Phineas set Ferb's arm safely on the bedside and told him frenetically and caringly, "Hold on, we have to get somebody to take that silly thing out of your mouth!"

Running over to the hallway door, Phineas gripped his fingers on the side of the moulding and leaned his head out as far as it could go. His mind was still under the irrational fear that if his feet left the room, he might lose his brother all over again.

"I need people in here!" Phineas shouted out to the employees in the hallway. "Everybody! He just woke up! Ferb! Just! WOKE! UP!"

A doctor set his papers away and rushed into the room, followed by three nurses, several of whom were bringing various pieces of equipment.

Continuing to remain still otherwise, Ferb's gaze darted overwhelmingly all around him as the personnel came over to his bed. Then the doctor drew out a little light and shone it steadily into the pupil of Ferb's right eye. Ferb paused his shifting and stared into it, trying to resist blinking.

Both the doctor, and Phineas standing anxiously behind him, watched as first the right, and then left eye, shrunk to the light. When it was withdrawn, Ferb returned to watching each person's movements all around him.

"He appears to be responsive and stable," the doctor deduced, while the three other nurses checked the machines of the room. One was adjusting the wires on Ferb's right arm, and the other already had fingers wrapped around the plastic tube near Ferb's face, waiting for a prompt.

Hopping up and down behind the doctor's back, Phineas dipped his head around his arms as he attempted to see around them. He kept repeating, "Can I hug him yet? Can I?"

Nodding, the doctor announced, "It's safe to disconnect the ventilator. He'll be able to breathe on his own." Then, with a click, the plastic piece was detached and Ferb got the chance to pucker his tongue over his mouth's roof.

Not a second later did Phineas, again, launch himself over the bed. This time, however, Ferb was able to react to the surprise hug with merely a sideways smile of his own, and a weakly lifted arm placed over Phineas' back.

"I missed you, Ferb," Phineas whispered gently into his ear. Ferb gripped harder onto Phineas' shoulder and returned with an almost-silent, cracking voice.

"…missed… too…."

"But you're awake now," Phineas said again, as if speaking it over would somehow guarantee its truth. "You woke up… Ferb, you woke up!"

Yanking his cell phone out of his back pocket with one hand, Phineas wrapped his other arm under Ferb's neck, leaning close to him. He stretched out the phone in front of both of them and pulled Ferb tighter. He called out brilliantly, "Say cheese, Ferb!"

Though the room was still spinning around his head, Ferb tried to move his eyes out towards the distant phone in Phineas' hand. He didn't think he succeeded very well, and ended up dizzily staring unfocused in its general direction. Nevertheless, Ferb put on the best smile he could muster, which turned out to be a feeble showing of his teeth. He attempted to lift his tube-covered arm a few inches, and let his limp fingers droop in a partial, encouraging wave.

After the click of the picture, Phineas drew his device back and kept sitting in the folding chair beside Ferb. He had his gaze fixed on the screen, and sent the picture with unhesitant haste to every single person on his contact list. He didn't even take the moment to attach any text to it.

A little tug was felt on Phineas' shirt, and he immediately dropped what he was doing in favor of looking protectively over to Ferb, who had lifted his hand and now pulled with his fingers on the edge of Phineas' sleeve.

Without a moment's thought, Phineas leaned forward with his ear near Ferb's face. Ferb looked at him thankfully, and formed the hoarse word, "…water…?'

"OH! Yes! No, yeah, of course I can get you water!" Phineas fretted as he leapt upwards. He spun to address the single nurse, now looking over a clipboard, who had been left in Ferb's room. "Can I go get him water?"

She smiled and looked at the paper before her. Then she pointed with her pencil over to the tangle of wires on Ferb's arm. "He's still on his IV for now, but yes. He'll definitely need to soothe his throat if he wants to be talking tonight."

"Don't you go _anywhere,_ Ferb!" Phineas commanded, squeezing tightly onto his brother's arm as he left his bedside. "I'll be right back."

* * *

The hospital bed had been adjusted, and now Ferb was able to sit upright under the covers. About twenty minutes ago Phineas had received a text message reply from his parents, saying that they were closing shop an hour early and would be coming over as soon as they could.

Phineas had already gone down to the cafeteria and piled up as much food as he could carry onto a black food tray. He had set it gently on the little table over Ferb's lap, and now Ferb-using his right arm that still had several wires connected around it-ravenously shoveled it into his mouth. It was no juicy cheeseburger, but Ferb didn't care. He was hungry.

Phineas was still trying his best to resist hugging him while he ate, but he kept sneaking him one on the arm every so often. He sat back in his chair and whispered cautiously, "Ferb… you were asleep for nearly two weeks. …Do you know that?"

"Sort of…" Ferb responded, rubbing his forehead with the base of his palm. His voice was still dry from lack of use, but he spoke anyway. "I know it's been a while. I was trying to count the days… I lost track at about nine."

"You were… counting the days?" Phineas repeated carefully. Then he gulped and asked quietly, "…What was it like in there?"

"Well," Ferb started as he changed his fork to his other hand. "I had a strange dream."

"A dream?" Phineas said as he slid his chair closer. He shuddered a bit. "Oh, I hope it wasn't a nightmare, was it?"

Ferb paused his eating and looked to the corner of his eye with thought. Then he returned to his food saying, "It started out like one. Then… it sort of turned into an adventure. Very much glad to be home, though."

Phineas tilted his head slightly, in interest. "An adventure? What happened in it?"

Though he had just taken another mouthful of food, Ferb replied, "…Mom was there, and Candace..."

Then Ferb pointed his fork at his brother. "And you, Phineas. You were there, too."

"I was?"

Ferb just nodded, preoccupied by scooping up the last of his meal onto his fork. Then he swallowed and looked back up to the bright-eyed Phineas. Ferb pushed his cleaned plate away and mentioned, "Hey, Phin, can I ask you a question?"

"Sure, Ferb! You can ask me anything," Phineas responded cheerfully without even a breath.

After a second of thought, Ferb offered his request, "What do you think of when you hear "round and round"?"

Phineas cocked his head and stared back to Ferb with a confused face. Ferb just smiled, adding, "I know it's a funny question. But I'm curious."

Doing a nonobjective shrug, Phineas sat back and closed his eyes. He took a second, and then began to hum a familiar tune. He opened his mouth and followed along, "The wheels on the bu—"

"Okay, okay, you can stop," Ferb interrupted, chuckling with an odd amusement that seemed, to Phineas, to have come from nowhere. He breathed through his laugh and shook his head. "I know you far too well for my own good."

Sounding a little concerned, Phineas asked, "You do?"

"Yep," was Ferb's simple answer. Then, he moved his empty plate and tray off of his legs and onto the table beside him. He lifted up his arm as and invitation to Phineas.

Taking it eagerly, Phineas scooted up and sat beside him. Ferb wrapped his arm strongly over his brother's shoulders.

Responding to him, Ferb added another sentence. "And you know, that's just the way I like it."

* * *

**Liked this story? Don't forget to post a Review!**

**All My PnF Fanfics:**

**PnF: Timeloops**

**PnF: Ghosts**

**PnF: Stolen Identity**

**PnF: Stuck Like Brothers**

**PnF: Mind Trapped (Viewing)**

**PnF: Species is a Constant**

**PnF: Lifeleap (Currently Posting)**


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